How Jordan Spieth won the Masters by refusing to lay up and hitting the 2 biggest shots of his life on the 13th hole

Jordan Spieth was cruising to a wire-to-wire win at the Masters when things had to chance to get shaky on the back nine. That’s when Spieth hit what he called “the two biggest shots of my life” to seal his first career green jacket.

The moment came just after hole No. 12, where Spieth had what he described as a “kind of a dumb 3-putt” on the par-3. The bogey dropped him to 17-under. At the same time, Phil Mickelson birdied the hole ahead and suddenly Spieth lost two strokes on his lead, which was down to four with six holes to play.

So when Spieth teed it up on No. 13, this was the first time all day when some started to wonder if the 21-year-old would start to tighten up. Instead, Spieth hit a perfect 3-wood, and by his reaction, you could tell he knew he hit it well.

Spieth might describe his second shot as “a comfortable 5-iron,” but there is nothing comfortable about trying to reach a par-5 green in two with the hole just on the other side of a creek and an uneven lie with the ball sitting about well above Spieth’s feet.